Catalan minister Josep Rull gave a hard-hitting speech today before judge Pablo Llarena during his hearing today in Spain's Supreme Court, according to fellow member of JxCat, Damià Calvet.
"I have two sons, Roger and Bernat. They're 3 and 8. Today you have the power, sir, to decide whether I see them grow up. If you decide to lock me up, I will leave them the dignity of having defended legitimate, just, noble, democratic ideas and having done so peacefully," he said.
Rull's wife, Meritxell Lluís, has defined her husband as a person of "dignity, resolve, conviction and commitment". "That's the father of my children and that's how we will remain stubbornly upright in defence of our freedom. Thank you for your support and warmth. We go on. Freedom [for the] political prisoners and return of the government in exile," she wrote on Twitter.